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Friday, September 12, 2008

Ann-Marie LucianoBioComing off the high of hope from the Democratic Convention, it certainly was a big crash for many of us to watch the Republican Convention as McCain made his final transformation from a once independent-minded, principled Republican to a Rove-Bush-Cheney clone. The contrast between McCain and Palin's cynical one-liners and distortions to Obama's message of hope and change couldn't have been more apparent.

For example, whenever I heard the crowd chant "Drill baby Drill" I felt sick. Were there people who actually cheered and waved a sign about drilling? I thought the only people who promoted drilling were politicians, oil companies and the deceptively nice looking people in the advertisements made by them. With all of our recent problems of spiking oil prices and scarcity issues, did people really still think that the answer to America's energy crisis could be found in drilling for more of a finite resource? What does anyone have against the sun or the wind? (Oh yeah, I remember, they can't be controlled by a few big greedy companies).

As the convention ended, I naively thought that the distortions announced during the Republican Convention would be revealed by the media immediately, and then the McCain/Palin campaign would begin to distance themselves from their false one-liners, prompted by the outrage of the public demanding a race on the issues rather than on sound bites. Boy, was I wrong.

I just simply cannot believe how low the McCain campaign has been willing to go to avoid any debate on any substantive issue. Every single stump speech John McCain repeats the same distortion that "Obama will raise taxes" or that Palin opposed the Bridge to Nowhere. Do they really think the American people aren't paying attention? The fact that every major media outlet has compared Obama's tax plan with McCain, and has shown that Obama will reduce taxes by more and for more people in the middle class, does not seem to bother them. There's a great one here.The fact that Palin supported the Bridge to Nowhere and actually took the money dedicated to it does not seem to prevent her from continuing to repeat her "Thanks but no thanks" mantra. The Republicans really think this election is about image. It's just a marketing competition, not an election of a President.

I'm so tired of slogans and spin and nonresponsive answers to questions. I'm tired of personal attacks and media cowering. I hope the country is tired too. The only way McCain wins is if we allow ourselves to be distracted by this circus. One of the many things I like about Obama is his ability to remain steady in the storm. What a storm it will be.